


Inevitable

by problematick



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Gen, I'm not sorry, If I gotta cry everybody gotta cry okay, Look these characters are such a ridiculously tight knit family, Post-Series, You will never be able to convince me this isn't what happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2016-09-13
Packaged: 2018-08-14 22:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8031139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/problematick/pseuds/problematick
Summary: After all they'd been through, you'd think the Voyager crew would run out of ways to blindside their captain. You'd think. 
(A small scene set immediately after the finale.)





	Inevitable

Captain Kathryn Janeway thought back over the last few minutes, how she arrived to be in this moment.

Leaving the bridge in Chakotay’s command, smiling at Ensign Kim and Lieutenant Tuvok as she rounded the walkway toward the turbolift. Heading on autopilot down to Sickbay, graciously accepting handshakes from passing crewmembers on her way through the corridors. Passing through the automatic doors to find a beaming hologram who chattered briefly before stepping back to his console, monitoring his two top priority patients. And the question from the two new parents in front of her that had left her speechless.

“I… well, I don’t know what to say.”

“You can start by saying yes,” B’Elanna growled from the biobed.

“And you can finish by saying thank you,” Tom added hastily, half clutching the Klingon with love, and half with chastisement.

Kathryn was still stunned, staring at this little family she’d managed to get home.

_Home._

They were _home_ , and Miral was right there, and that—that was her _goddaughter_.

B’Elanna studied her captain, able to discern between a fair few of her moods and expressions by now, and seeing a new mix of shock and awe arranging those features.

“You had to know it’d be you, Captain.” Kathryn’s eyes snapped to those of her chief engineer, pulled away from the infant sleeping in her arms. “It would always be you, for any of us. Anyone on this crew…”

B’Elanna saw a twinkle of tears well up in those deep blue eyes, and she shifted the bundle in her arms just a bit, reached out a hand toward this woman who’d held herself apart for seven years. Who she’d hated, to start. Who she’d fought with, and fought beside. Who hadn’t given up on her, who pushed her, who believed in her ability to accomplish the impossible—both to her frequent dismay and occasional delight. Who’d been a mother to her when she hadn’t known she’d needed one, who kept her safe against all odds to become one.

Kathryn’s eyes dropped from B’Elanna’s eyes to her hand, and she drifted forward without much realizing it, until she was suddenly anchored by the small, sturdy, calloused, _warm_ hand grasping her own.

Tom gently scooped Miral out of the crook of B’Elanna’s arm, and in the time it took him to shift forward half a step, Kathryn’s arms were already up and waiting to hold her. Her eyes went wide at the slight weight when the baby settled fully into her embrace. The pilot couldn’t smother his grin at the soft “oh” that escaped the captain’s lips, the same one she made when looking at a breathtaking nebula or a work of alien art. He supposed, chest puffing with pride, that his infant daughter was more than a little like both.

“So, whaddya say, Captain?” he drawled, a hand falling to the back of B’Elanna’s neck and squeezing as Kathryn’s rare, brilliant smile bloomed down at the newest—and last—member of her _Voyager_ crew.

“I’d say hello, Mr. Paris,” she replied, without looking up. She huddled her face a little closer to the gently ridged head cradled on her bicep, a finger stroking one impossibly soft cheek.

“Hello, my little goddaughter. It is an honor to meet you.”

**Author's Note:**

> this show has been over for seven thousand years and I still find myself getting destroyed by feelings over these characters
> 
> honestly my friend was texting me while watching coda and as i'm crying, thinking about kathy's funeral, she casually goes:
> 
> friend: kathy shipping tom and b from the start  
> me: oh my god you KNOW she wont the betting pool on that one  
> friend: and I bet they still blindsided her by choosing her as godmom
> 
> and I instantly started crying more about godmother kathryn janeway
> 
> so, this happened. i'd like to think their bond started early, y'know? hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
